So these are the beats Studio buds Plus, and I have always liked the Beats Studio buds for android users cause they are a solid pair of earbuds… but now we have the beats Studio plus which have some improvements over the originals. But today we’re going to see what the beats studio buds plus are all about and were going to see if its worth upgrading over the originals.
Regarding pricing, the beats Studio buds plus retail for $ 170 no bad for a pair of mid tier and earbuds. Where as the originals have a retail price of $150… but they now like to go on sale for $100 and the plus like to go on sale fro $130. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two earbuds up, they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about these cases. Now the cases on both the beats studio buds and the beats studio buds plus are identical. They have the same foot print and they have the same thickness. And they both charge via a USB C port. Now personally I feel these cases are decent enough for every day carry… but you will notice these cases when they are in your pocket. Nonetheless these cases are manageable but they are much bigger than lets say your AirPods Pro 2’s case or AirPods 3 case. But from a usability standpoint, both of these cases have very easy lids that open and snap close and they both have very strong magnets in them, making putting away your earbuds very easy. Overall I like these cases but they are a little big. But the main thing that I have to point out about both of these cases is that they dont have wireless charging. And personally I do think that this is a very big deal especially for the Plus cause a lot of mid tier ANC earbuds have wireless charging, where as these dont. And also, just with the sheer size of this case, you’d expect wireless charging.
But when it comes to battery life, this is actually an area where the Plus have a very big improvement over the original. The original beats studio buds have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned off. The earbuds themselves can go for 8 straight hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges.
Inperosn 5
Where as with the beats Studio Buds plus, these have an advertised combined battery life of 36 hours with their active noise cancelation turned off. The earbuds themselves can go for 9 straight hours and the case can supply 3 additional charges. But just keep in mind, if you were to use the ANC on either of these two earbuds, that is going to drain your battery life faster.
But overall, the Beats Studio Buds Plus does have better battery life than the originals. The earbuds themselves have slightly better stamina… but more importantly, the case is able to supply an additional charge. The only thing that I dont like here is that the Beats Studio buds plus don have wireless chargning.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Regarding the sculpt and the fit of these earbuds, they’re identical. Now unlike AirPods, the beats dont have stems… and personally I really miss the stems on these earbuds cause sometimes it can be a little hard to grab these earbuds out of their case. But besides that, the these beats are sleek looking. But then there’s their fit. Now these earbuds are in ear ear buds… but they dont fit like your standard pair of in ear earbuds like lets say the Galaxy Buds 2 or the Linkbuds S. These are a pair of shallow fitting in ear earbuds like the AirPods Pro 2, or galaxy buds 2 pro. So since these are shallow fitting these do feel a little more comfortable cause they’re less intrusive… however they might not offer as much lock down as a pair of standard fitting in ear earbuds cause they can wiggle out a little easily. But overall, the beat studio buds plus fit well, but I would mainly recommend them for casual use cause if you try to workout with them, they can wiggle out.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, the beats studio buds plus aren’t using any of apple’s H1 or H2 chips like in their AirPods, but nonetheless the connectivity on these earbuds is good. First off, each earbud establishes a connection with your phone, so I you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one it doesn’t matter and this is the connection set up that we expect to see on all of our earbuds nowadays.
But also, even though these earbuds can only be connected to one device at a time, they’re still good for any power user out there… first off if youre an apple power user, once you pair these earbuds to one device… they’ll show up on all of your other devices so you can easily swap them over… and even still these are good for power users who have devices from different eco systems, cause these are still fast to switch from one device to another if you call to them from another device.
But when it comes to overall performance, these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device, but when it comes to audio codecs, these earbuds only have support for SBC and AAC…
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds, cause I’ve always liked how the beats studio buds sound and the beats studio buds plus actually sound a little better than the originals. Now first off I do have to point out that you can’t directly adjust the eq on these earbuds to your liking like you can with a lot of other earbuds out there. But for the most part, these earbuds sound very balanced… my main critique is their treble is just a little too emphasized… I would just knock it down a little bit. But besides that these earbuds have very strong vocals and very good detail in the instrumentals…. But then there’s their bass. These earbuds have noticeably more resonance and more kick in their bass than the originals… and I also can’t help but feel that they sound a little more open as well. Overall I really like how these earbuds sound but I would only recommend these to someone that likes a lot of bass in their music. If you’re someone that wants a more neutral sound signature, then you’re defeneitly going to want to stay clear of these. But overall, I think the beats studio buds plus sound great, and they sound better than the originals. I just wish that you could bring the treble down a little bit.
Now when it comes to your media controls, just like the originals the plus are using physical buttons… but these media controls are a little limited by todays standards. Now you can have them set so that you can skip though your music and so that you can adjust your ANC settings… or you can have them set to skip through your music and adjust your volume by pressing and holding. On a lot of other earbuds out there, you’re able to skip through your music, adjust the volume and adjust your ANC settings. So I think this is something that these earbuds can improve on.
But also, beats studio buds plus dont have wear sensors, so they aren’t going to automaitcly play and pause your music if you take them out or put them back into your ears. Now I have always felt that this is a very big inconvenience on the original studio buds… and I think that this is an even bigger deal on the studio buds plus jut given their price point.
However, even though the studio buds plus aren’t using any of apple’s H1 chips, you still have Hey Siri support if you use them with an iPhone. So you can activate Siri with just your voice.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now apple claims that the Beats Studio Buds plus have 1.6 times better active noise cancelation than the originals… and yes, these earbuds block out noticeably more noise than the original studio buds.
Now when it comes to overall ranking, for me, the AirPods Pro 2 and Sony WF-1000XM5 are neck and neck for first place, closely followed by the Bose QC earbuds 2, below them are the Sennheiser momentum 3, below them are the linkbuds S, below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2 pro, below them are the pixel buds pro and below them are the beats studio buds plus.
Now below the beats studio buds plus are the Jabra Elite 4’s, below them are the original beats studio buds, below them are the galaxy buds 2 and below them are the sennheiser CX plus. So overall, the active noise cancelation on the Beats Studio buds Plus has been improved over the originals… but dont expect their ANC to keep up with more premium ANC earbuds. But in general, the ANC on the beats studio buds plus is going to be useful on your bus ride commute or slightly chatty office.
But like I have mentioned in the past, I only use the ANC on my earbuds when I have to and what’s really important to me is the quality of their ambient mode. Now the ambient on the plus sounds a lot better than the ambient mode on the originals… it sounds a lot more natural cause with the originals, it sounded very tinny. But just like before, their microphone array does a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors, and their ambient mode is the active kind, meaning that they will actively block out sudden loud noises… so if you’re walking out doors and if is siren rolls by or if a dog starts barking… your ears aren’t going to get blasted.
Mic OG Beats Quite
But finally here’s the microphone test, now the original beats studio buds have a decent sounding microphone on them for phone calls.
Mic Beats Plus quite
And in a quite room, I feel that this microphone sounds very similar to the microphone found on the original beats studio buds.
Mic plus road noise
However, when it comes to blocking out noise pollution… there’s a very big difference here. The beats studio buds plus are doing a really good job of reducing this road noise cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise… but if we were to switch back over to the beats studio buds plus… it is severely reduced.
Mic OG road noise
Where as with the originals, these are really struggling to block out this road noise cause they are pushing down on my voice, and you can hear road noise in the background.
Mic OG chatter
Now when it comes to blocking out chatter, these are doing a better job cause my voice isn’t getting pushed down but you can still hear chatter in the back.
Mic Plus Chatter
But with the beats studio buds plus, these are doing a better job of blocking out this chatter, but again for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the beats studio buds plus, it is severely reduced. So overall, the beats studio buds plus just have a much better preforming microphone than the originals cause these do a much better job of dealing with noise pollution.
But with all of that being said, the beats studio buds plus are an overall solid pair of earbuds. They’re a great option if you’re an android user cause of the USB C charging port… but they are also a good option if you’re an iPhone user that wants something with ANC but you dont want to pay AirPods Pro 2 prices. But more importantly the plus do have some important upgrades over the originals… they have a much better battery life, they sound a lot better as well, they have a much better preforming microphone for phone calls, they have a better sounding ambient mode and they block out a little more noise as well. However, I do feel that the beats studio buds plus should have had wireless charging and proximity sensors.